Community Partnerships Initiative

CFR’s Community Partnerships Initiative (CPI) brings therapy to clients who need it most but experience barriers to access. Free, on-site and off-site services are offered in collaboration with our partner agencies.

What We Do

CPI helps individuals and families heal from trauma, improve mental and emotional wellbeing, and foster healthy relationships through collaborative partnerships. We eliminate common barriers to receiving mental health care by offering both on-site and off-site therapeutic services that are responsive to client and agency needs throughout the greater Philadelphia area. The overwhelming majority of these therapeutic services are offered at no-cost to the client.

Individual, couples, and family therapy is available, as well as group interventions for adults, children, teens, and families. The therapeutic focus of our work includes grief and loss, trauma, parenting, relationship challenges, and recovery from mental illness.

As part of the CPI mission, CFR Staff Therapists support the training and capacity-building goals of our community partners by offering workshops, consultation, crisis response, and guidance for the partner agency staff.

How to Work with CPI

The following are examples of the ways CPI engages with our partners:

CPI strategically plans, designs, and fundraises to bring a dedicated, embedded CFR Staff Therapist to their organization.
CFR Clinical Interns provide both on-site and off-site therapy to partner organizations. Learn more about working with CFR Clinical Interns.
Each partner is assigned an exclusive CPI Staff Member to help facilitate the client referral process.
CPI provides crisis response interventions, workshops, and groups on an a-la-carte basis.

Do not see what you are looking for? We are happy to talk to you about working together to tailor a program that meets your unique needs.

To learn more about our work with community partners, contact Dr. Sara Corse, Director of Community Partnerships Initiative.

Meet our Team

Mike Butera, LMFT

Mike supports the mental and relational wellness of individuals, couples, and families. He provides unique and creative ways to guide therapy participants through life’s inevitable challenges. He shapes space for a collaborative, culturally sensitive, and trauma-informed therapeutic experience that is tailored to each person. He strives to foster emotional safety and relational attunement by constructing...

Specialty Areas: Artists and Athletes, Communication, Community Partnerships Initiative, Community Trauma Response, Depression and Anxiety, Divorce, Life Transitions, Men's Issues, Relationship Issues, Self-Discovery/Self-Analysis, Trauma, Veterans, Active Military, and Their Families

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Jagkirpal Channa, MFT, MS

Sometimes, life challenges us with painful experiences that can overwhelm us. These deep and untreated wounds can hinder one’s ability to be one’s true authentic self and live an empowered life. My goal is to provide my clients with a safe space to explore, challenge, and remove harmful patterns in their lives and create transformational...

Specialty Areas: Affairs and Infidelity, Anger Management, Career Counseling, Communication, Community Partnerships Initiative, Depression and Anxiety, Diversity Issues and Intermarriage, Divorce, Grief, Loss, and Bereavement, Interpersonal Violence/Abuse, Life Transitions, Men's Issues, Mood Disorders, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Relationship Issues, Remarried/Blended Issues, Self-Discovery/Self-Analysis, Sex and Love Addiction, Stress, Trauma, Work/Life Balance

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Sara J. Corse, PhD

Dr. Corse is a dynamic clinical psychologist with over 30 years of experience working with individuals, couples and families. Clients are drawn to Dr. Corse for her engaging style, her deep caring and her effectiveness in helping clients resolve and heal troubling emotions and relationships. Her approach is integrative and includes the use of EMDR...

Specialty Areas: Affairs and Infidelity, Chronic Illness, Communication, Community Partnerships Initiative, Community Trauma Response, Depression and Anxiety, Diversity Issues and Intermarriage, Grief, Loss, and Bereavement, Life Transitions, Mood Disorders, Parenting, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Relationship Issues, Remarried/Blended Issues, Stress, Trauma, Veterans, Active Military, and Their Families, Women's Issues

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Kelly Davis, Esq., LSW

Do you ever feel that your heart and your mind want different things? In our sessions together, we will spend time with your different parts. Using the principles of Internal Family Systems, we will gently look at your conflicting desires and interests and understand how our various parts, even the ones that might not be...

Specialty Areas: Affairs and Infidelity, Anger Management, Career Counseling, Communication, Community Partnerships Initiative, Divorce, Grief, Loss, and Bereavement, LGBTQ+ Affirming, Life Transitions, Men's Issues, Mood Disorders, Parenting, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Relationship Issues, Self-Discovery/Self-Analysis, Stress, Trauma, Work/Life Balance

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Lenny Schnier, LSW

I have an integrative approach to therapy, which means I adapt the therapeutic process to the unique needs of each client. Some frameworks I pull from are systemic, narrative, relational, trauma-informed, and person-centered. It is important to me that therapy is a space where genuineness, directness, empathy, and sometimes humor can thrive. I am passionate...

Specialty Areas: Artists and Athletes, Chronic Illness, Communication, Community Partnerships Initiative, Depression and Anxiety, Grief, Loss, and Bereavement, LGBTQ+ Affirming, Life Transitions, Relationship Issues, Self-Discovery/Self-Analysis, Stress, Trauma, Work/Life Balance

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Emma Steiner, MSW, MFT, ...

Emma Steiner, MSW, MFT, LCSW

Ms. Steiner is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over ten years of experience working as a psychotherapist in Philadelphia. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Arts and Sciences as well as the Graduate School of Social Policy and Practice, she returned to train at Council for Relationships in order to gain a...

Specialty Areas: Addiction and Substance Abuse, Communication, Community Partnerships Initiative, Community Trauma Response, Depression and Anxiety, Grief, Loss, and Bereavement, LGBTQ+ Affirming, Life Transitions, Mood Disorders, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Premarital Issues, Relationship Issues, Self-Discovery/Self-Analysis, Stress, Trauma, Veterans, Active Military, and Their Families, Women's Issues

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